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Had to give her formula this evening...

Well it finally happened...as I said in my other post I was feeling I did not have enough in the evenings, but today I felt dry since the morning and struggled through the day with dd nursing every 30 min or so, and then non stop from 6 to 10 pm when I gave up and gave her formula with the sns ( had alrady used all my ebm from the night during the day). She ate about 40 ml (1.5 oz) and finally seemed happier and fell asleep for a while.. Seems that my supply cannot follow the demand even if I let her nurse on demand, I want to try to pump to increase supply but do not know how to do best as my time is very limited due to all this nursing. Plus I have to feed her all my ebm it seems so I am not sure if this helps increasing supply anyway or if I should be able to spare some ebm to see an increase? Please help!

Re: Had to give her formula this evening...

Are you taking any herbs or medication to increase your supply? When and how much are you pumping now?
I'm having low supply, too, but I have seen some increase by taking fenugreek and drinking Mother's Milk tea and pumping after each nursing session for 10-20 minutes (at least 2 minutes after the milk stops).

Re: Had to give her formula this evening...

Mama, this really, really sounds like a growth spurt! I agree, keep nursing your baby as much as you can, pump after feedings if you want to really increase supply, and try to minimize supplementing as much as you can. The more you supplement, the less your body is getting the signal to make more milk. So if you do supplement, really up your pumping efforts to make sure you're getting enough nipple stimulation.

It's hard, but it's pretty normal for a growth spurting baby to nurse every 30 minutes, basically all the time! It can be incredibly draining.

What's your baby's diaper output? Are you seeing 6 wets a day (24 hour period)? Is she gaining weight? After a month or two of nursing, you may no longer feel "full" anymore - that doesn't mean you're not making milk, your body is just getting used to nursing all the time, and you're no longer getting that sense of fullness.

Hang in there. While the occasional supplementation is no big deal, and if you need it, you need it, it can be a slippery slope. Sometimes mamas say they have low supply, when really what they are dealing with is very normal - just a growth spurt, or changes in their body as they get more used to nursing, etc.

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.

Re: Had to give her formula this evening...

Originally Posted by @llli*mamminaof2

Well it finally happened...as I said in my other post I was feeling I did not have enough in the evenings, but today I felt dry since the morning and struggled through the day with dd nursing every 30 min or so, and then non stop from 6 to 10 pm when I gave up and gave her formula with the sns ( had alrady used all my ebm from the night during the day). She ate about 40 ml (1.5 oz) and finally seemed happier and fell asleep for a while.. Seems that my supply cannot follow the demand even if I let her nurse on demand, I want to try to pump to increase supply but do not know how to do best as my time is very limited due to all this nursing. Plus I have to feed her all my ebm it seems so I am not sure if this helps increasing supply anyway or if I should be able to spare some ebm to see an increase? Please help!

I was in your shoes less than 2 weeks ago. I was nursing on demand 24 hours a day, cosleeping basically nursing every 2 hours day and night. I felt like my nipples were going to fall off. To add insult to injury, my son was not satisfied, not content. Here's what I did. at 1st I gave in and gave my son ebm via SNS. When the ladies on here say supplementing is a slipery slope......believe it!! I quickly realized that I had to turn things around fast, if I wanted to exclusively breastfeed my son. It was very hard, but I put my son to my breast even though I felt dry, I knew there wasn't much milk, he was crying. No, he was screaming crying, I was crying. This went on for nearly six hours, yes 6 hours staight!! I just kept switching between right breast and left breast, finally my body woke up and I was having one let down after another.
Trust your body, keep putting baby to the breast, that's the best way to increase supply and know that your baby is not going to starve. How old is your dd? In addition to nursing around the clock, I took many herbs. The ones I felt helped me were Alfalfa and Fenugreek together. Make sure you are not allergic to alfalfa before you take it. good luck

Re: Had to give her formula this evening...

I'm sorry you feel like you are having a hard time with satisfying your little one. How is your LO's diaper output? It is a good rule for measuring milk intake. What goes in, must come out. Some babies want to nurse more in the evening hours and may seem unsatisfied, though they may be tanking up for a good stretch of sleep!

If you feel you must supplement keep using the SNS, it will stimulate your breasts to make even more milk! You are doing a great thing for your LO by BFing, good job!

“Only with trust, faith, and support can the woman allow the birth experience to enlighten and empower her.” - Annie Kennedy & Penny Simkin

Re: Had to give her formula this evening...

Hello, thanks for all your replies. We were travelling last week with only very scattered internet access, which I used mostly for reading your posts. I tried once to post but lost my message...
We are now at my parents' and I don't have my pump with me, I did my best at brestfeeding as much as possible and managed to limit supplement to 1-1.5 oz at the evening feed about every other day. DD is 11 weeks old, weighs 4050g, was born at 35 weeks and 2400g, lowest weight 2160g. I think she is still gaining 150g per week (5.3 oz) but not sure due to scale change. I a, not sure about diaper output, I use disposable ones, they can absorb a lot and I am not sure how wet they should be to count as one. I started fenugreek and hope it will help. I also noticed she started doing some 4 hrs stretches at night, specially when I supplement. Also it is weird but I seem to have one good day the day after supplementing and then one bad and have to supplement again. I think it correlates with dd sleeping pattern, one good day and one badday....

Re: Had to give her formula this evening...

It's hard, but it's pretty normal for a growth spurting baby to nurse every 30 minutes, basically all the time! It can be incredibly draining.

What's your baby's diaper output? Are you seeing 6 wets a day (24 hour period)? Is she gaining weight? After a month or two of nursing, you may no longer feel "full" anymore - that doesn't mean you're not making milk, your body is just getting used to nursing all the time, and you're no longer getting that sense of fullness.

Hang in there. While the occasional supplementation is no big deal, and if you need it, you need it, it can be a slippery slope. Sometimes mamas say they have low supply, when really what they are dealing with is very normal - just a growth spurt, or changes in their body as they get more used to nursing, etc.

Totally agree! Healthy lactating breasts shouldn't feel really engorged--engorgement is a warning sign that your ducts could become plugged and eventually get mastitis. The only way for us to know at home is by diaper output--how is that going for you? Here is a reference card for 0-6 wks, there's a link to click for older babies:http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/enough-milk.html

Babies bf for a rainbow of reasons, but the artifical milk industry wants mothers to think it's only for food, thus a baby who cues a lot is not satisfied and the mother should supplement. Brilliant, vicious advertising strategy. Arm yourself against this onslaught by making a little grid for you to tick off when LO has a wet or soiled nappy.

Re: Had to give her formula this evening...

Hello, i don't want to think we made it already, but I did not have to supplement during the last three days..I counted and weighed diapers, 5 wet with 80-120 ml per day, which should be ok according to kellymom, and although I had to be bfing almost all day long we were fine. However dd continued to sleep at least 4-5 hrs strtches at night when we cosleep, I am considering putting her in a crib next to my bed to see if she goes on like this. I hope this wil not harm again supply